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I want to start a simple business. Is it simple?
nope. factories to produce rugs (I'm assuming you talking about bathroom towels for in front of the shower?) are not going to be that cheap. and that's just the business and tools, who knows if they even own the building
Bahahahaha they are talking about a laundromat.
laundry mat
laundromat
I suppose step one would be to first understand the name and spelling of the business you are trying to make....
No no this a building that is a mat for your laundry.
One of my old Internet friends from years ago did, and got very involved in the industry. He seems to be doing very well for himself, but I've seen him comment on a Facebook post where people were saying you can only become a millionaire by starting a laundromat if you started off as a billionaire
Oh come on, I’m sure if you’re using it as a front for a drug dealing operation then you can also become a millionaire :)
Did he agree with that?
He didn't, but now that I think about it he has another business still in the industry (don't want to be too specific) and that may help too. Really not familiar enough with his businesses' finances to say 🙂
Ah, that makes sense, thanks!
Yeah, seems to be a margin thin revenue system and location and user type plays a big role in its success. Very interesting stuff to learn about though.
He also lives in a low cost of living area
Just the building with no equipment? In most areas of the US, yes. Building with equipment? Doubtful unless it's already clapped out.
Running a laundry mat is all fun and games until a bunch of oilfield dudes come through and trash 5k worth of washers.
5k worth of washers
whew, at least they only trashed a couple and not an entire row
Around here it’s horse blankets. Apparently the combo of hair and grease starts dryer fires. “No Horse Blankets! 😡”
I would think they would rather ruin the mat.
Laundry makes the best mats
Laundromat.
It would highly depend on your area. Maybe in a small town but you'd also struggle for customers potentially.
The biggest factor would likely be the property lease and associated costs like property taxes. You'd also probably have 40-80k in machines depending on the number and quality. Overall upkeep would likely be relatively cheap as far as businesses go but you would likely need more than 100k in capital or loans to get it started.
There are a ton of videos on YouTube about people who own/have owned a laundromat. Very insightful.
Just find out who runs the local protection racket and get them to invest in your laundrymat in exchange for services /jk
Depends on where you live. If you can find a large enough building and renovate maybe. A pre existing building with all the machines already there would likely cost much more.
Running a business isnt really simple though. Lots of things to take into account. Taxes, overhead, inventory, maintenance, customer service, and thats just off the top of my head.
A lot of those business concerns are minimized with laundromats. Inventory is as simple as it gets. You provide coins and detergent. There usuall isn't much for customer service either. The biggest thing is having the captial to pay for stuff that comes up like repairs. A lot of the other minor problems can be outsourced for relatively cheap like bookkeeping and cleaning.
A lot where I used to live ran small convenience stores within the laundromat during the day to make a little more money. Depends how much foot traffic they get to make that worth the effort I'm sure.
Then there is the water. Nobody thinks of the water.
yep, inventory management is a nightmare.
you can't be known as the laundromat that runs out of water, but you can't overstock or it will go stale, and then disposing of it is no simple matter
I live in a very wet area so I may be biased but water is very cheap as far as an operating costs goes.
Edit: also if you want to be a successful running a laundromat the water costs should be worked into your pricing so the cost of water is really a moot point. Its like saying the cost of eggs will bankrupt a groccery store, except a laundromat won't be using any water a customer didn't pay for unlike a store which might over order eggs.
Is it possible to manage a business like an alcohol business while doing that?
If you're asking these questions here, you've got a long way to go.
I suggest finding some "running a small business" materials at your local library.
Is this a very thinly veiled way to ask how to launder money at a discount?
Yes… as long as you live somewhere that those things are possible. Indonesia, maybe?